User:SelenaM0/Cultivation theory

Intro
Cultivation theory is a sociological and communications framework to examine the lasting effects of media, primarily television. The central hypothesis of cultivation analysis is that people who spend more time watching television are more likely to perceive the real world in a way as more commonly depicted in television messages, as compared to those who watch less television, but are otherwise comparable in major demographic features.

Founded by George Gerbner, cultivation theory was developed to seek out the influence that television media may have on the viewers. In later years, the founding of Gerbner were expanded on and developed by an American screenwriter Larry Gross

Books
Authors and researchers have developed multiple books over the years based on cultivation theory. One of the earliest books written based on cultivation theory was in 1995, where James Shanahan and Michael Morgan came together to write the book "Television and its Viewers" Then, one of the latest books based on the topic was written by Andy Ruddock in 2020, called "Digital Media Influence: A Cultivation Approach"

Background
Together, Gerbner and Gross were able to expand upon the cultivation theory and base it upon different core assumptions.

Cultivation theory is based on three core assumptions:


 * 1) Medium: the first assumption is that television is fundamentally different from other forms of mass media.
 * 2) Audience: cultivation theory does not predict what people will do after watching a violent program but rather posits a connection between people's fears of a violence-filled world and their exposure to violent programming. The exposure to violent programming leads to what Gerbner calls the Mean World Syndrome, the idea that long-term exposure to violent media will lead to a distorted view that the world is more violent than it is.
 * 3) Function and Effect: television's effects are limited because it is a part of a larger sociocultural system. Therefore, although the effects of watching television may increase or decrease at any point in time, its effect is consistently present.

There are three orders of effect that come with the Cultivation Theory. The First Order Effects describe how people's behaviour changes when exposed to mass media. The Second Order Effect encompasses the viewers' values and attitudes depending on what they are watching. The Third Order Effect is the change in the viewer's observation behaviour.